The present invention relates to an oral care composition which contains an inorganic particulate component in an oral care composition, and more particularly to a dentifrice composition containing a cationic-compatible inorganic particulate component with an oral care active antibacterial compound, which achieves plaque reduction with superior breath freshening characteristics.
Halitosis, the technical term for bad breath, or Fetor ex Oris, is an undesirable condition. As a matter of fact, everyone, excluding the very young, occasionally has bad breath, with approximately 25% suffering on a regular basis and the problem tends to get worse and more frequent as one gets older. The problem seems to be evenly split between men and women. Bad breath results when proteins from the food we eat and saliva debris are broken down by bacteria. Even the cleanest mouth hosts millions of bacteria which have the potential to decompose these protein-containing particles left in the mouth. This bacterial population forms foul smelling products, called volatile sulfur compounds (VSC)—such as hydrogen sulfide (“rotten eggs”) and methyl mercaptans (“skunk smell”) and other odorous and bad tasting compounds. Up to 80-90% of bad breath that originates in the mouth is by this mechanism.
Dental plaque or plaque bio-film is a soft deposit that forms on teeth and is comprised of an accumulation of bacteria and salivary as well as food by-products. Plaque adheres tenaciously at the points of irregularity or discontinuity, e.g., on rough calculus surfaces, at the gum line, on tongue surface and within crevices, and the like. Besides being unsightly, plaque is implicated in the occurrence of gingivitis and other forms of periodontal disease.
A wide variety of antibacterial agents have been suggested in the art to retard plaque formation and the oral infections and dental disease associated with plaque formation. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,068 and GB 1352420 disclose that arginine derivative compounds exhibit antibacterial activity when used in oral compositions such as mouthrinses to counter plaque formation by bacterial accumulation in the oral cavity. Arginine derivative compounds and their salts in particular show excellent inhibitory effect against microorganisms which possess relatively strong resistance to bacterial such as S. aureus, S. mutans, F. nucleatum which are involved in plaque formation on teeth. Other cationic oral care active ingredients, such as bis biguanides or cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC) are also known for their inhibitory effect on plaque formation and bacterial accumulation in the oral cavity.
Although the cationic active material compounds, such as for example, the arginine derivative compounds disclosed in the prior art, are effective antibacterial agents, when these compounds are included in silica containing dentifrice it was discovered that when the dentifrice was applied to the teeth, the bioavailability of the arginine derivative compound was reduced to a level whereby little antiplaque benefit was achieved. Investigation of this problem led to the discovery that compounds such as abrasives and thickeners such as silica compounds conventionally used in the preparation of dentifrice compositions were the factor responsible for the impairment of the antiplaque efficacy of the arginine derivative compound.
Thus, there is a clear need in the art to formulate a dental product capable of delivering a cationic active antiplaque antibacterial agent whereby the ingredients used to prepare the dentifrice composition do no inhibit the bioavailability of the cationic antiplaque agent so that optimum antiplaque benefits result.